A pride flag tops the Space Needle during the Seattle Pride Parade, Sunday, June 25, 2017.

The annual Seattle Pride Parade, in its 43rd incarnation and viewed by 200,000 people, is a scene in which the "Seattle Freeze" melts each year into a display of good humor and powerful statement for human and civil rights.

It is a difficult venue to express and sustain anger as bookends of the political spectrum found out on Sunday.

The parade was held up a half hour by a Black Lives Matter sit down, in memory of Charleena Lyles, but further down the parade route at 4th and Denny a contingent from the Seattle Police were greeted with applause.

A small contingent of God-hates-Gays demonstrators chanted predictions that marchers would burn in hell. A young man, crossing Denny, blew them kisses and told them, "Have a beautiful day!" The glum homophobes answered: "Have a rotten day."

How do you sustain anger when a beaming young woman advertises "Free Hugs" on her T-shirt and is embracing more people than former King County Executive Ron Sims?

Seattle Mayor Ed Murray marched hand in hand with first gentleman Michael Shiosaki. Murray was greeted with waves and applause. He broke off to pump the flesh like a politician who has not run his last race.

The Pride Parade is a place to take measure of progress over the past 40 years, on multiple fronts.

Examples:

A color guard from the 98th Rainier Scout Group marched near the front of the parade, displaying the pride flag along with the American flag. The Boy Scouts have lifted their prohibition on gay scouts, and now allows latitude on Scout leaders. As part of the Baden-Powell Service Organization, the 98th goes further, stating the group should be open to everyone, regardless of religious beliefs, gender or sexual orientation."

The Washington State Supreme Court, in a 2006 ruling, the Anderson v. King County decision, refused to overturn the state's ban on same-sex marriage. The Legislature and voters enacted marriage equality six years later. On Sunday, two Supreme Court justices -- Steve Gonzalez and Mary Yu -- were marching in the Pride Parade. Yu is the first openly gay person to be elected to statewide office in Washington, and officiated at the state's first same-sex marriage ceremony in 2012.

Politicians used to turn cops loose on gay bars, and use events like St. Patrick's Day to show their clout. A memorable annual event, at the Illinois State Fair, had Chicago Mayor Richard Daley (Sr.) hoofing it followed by hundreds of city, Cook County and state employees. The modern example, witnessed Sunday, came with King County Executive Dow Constantine heading a very large contingent of county employees. Other public employee groups -- notably the National Park Service -- were present in big numbers. Former U.S. Attorney Jenny Durkan, who is gay and running for mayor, fielded ex-Governor Chris Gregoire and State Sen. Reuven Carlyle as prominent faces in a Daley-sized crowd of backers.

Seattle was, in 1978, the first major American city to vote to uphold its civil rights ordinance forbidding discrimination against gays and lesbians. On election night, supporters of gay rights marched past KIRO-TV, whose president Lloyd Cooney did repeated on-air editorials championing repeal. On Sunday, a KIRO-7 mobile unit was up front in the parade, with the station's support of Pride Parade announced from the microphone.

The pattern was repeated far beyond the Emerald City.

Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau attended a Faith + Pride church service in Tornoto, and then marched the city's Pride parade, dispensing hugs and marching with a rainbow-colored Maple Leaf on his cheek.

The Seattle business community was once notoriously skittish about anything to do with gay/lesbian rights.

But that hasn't been the case for years. A parade of corporations were featured or saw employees march in the parade. Harley Davidson was first in line, just after the Dykes Can Ride contingent heading the parade. The Seattle Sounders followed, their championship trophy held aloft.

A young man named Jared McCall, watching on 4th Avenue, described himself as "a little uneasy" at the corporate presence. "We need them," he acknowledged, noting the flirtation of convenience between a libertine Donald Trump and the anti-gay religious right.

In an online piece for Vice last week, writer (and Stranger alumnus) Steven Blum wrote of more radical gays' unease at the corporate presence in LGBTQ events.

"Activists are increasingly suspect of what they see as unethical brands latching onto pride celebrations to boost their own public images," wrote Blum.

Delta Airlines has been running sponsored content on Slog, The Stranger's website, during Pride Month. And Blum noted that Lockheed Martin, "the aerospace and defense juggernaut," has its own page on Dan Savage's It Gets Better project.

Such considerations were not on the minds of crowd members who used rainbow flags as capes, or painted their faces. Of course, the Pride Parade produced a handsome show of skin.

Are you gay, a reporter asked 15-year-old bystander Ken Lewis. "Hell no," he replied. Does he support LGBTQ rights? Hell yes, why not," said Lewis, voicing a position polls show is supported by more than two-thirds of those under 30.

A young woman, who declined to give her name, spoke of growing up in a conservative town in southern Idaho. The sight of Seattle Pride "has me totally overwhelmed ... and jazzed," she declared.